[User Can't Boot Older Version of Granblue Fantasy, Possibly due to DRM]

[bnthomason]

Describe the Bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behaviour:

1. Download Granblue Fantasy Relink, any version, with depotdownloader

2. Run and use a mod (I specifically used this:
   https://www.nexusmods.com/granbluefantasyrelink/mods/433?tab=description

3. Go to the console

4. See error

Expected Behaviour
Run the game like usual with the mods working like when doing from the actual steam game.

Screenshots

Additional Context
Contains DRM currently. Worked before update, needed to roll back but roll back is failing because of said error.

[Sewer56]

Sorry for delay, busy morning.

I presume you have downloaded the game to a separate location with depotdownloader and are trying to launch that separate copy, right? And it's not booting as expected.

There'd be 2 ways around this:

1. Move your older version in Steam's regular game installation directory
2. Boot Steam copy with Reloaded and copy steam_appid.txt to your new location.

[Sewer56]

Steam's documentation suggests that devs reboot the game through Steam if it was not launched through Steam.
Reloaded tries to avoid this when possible, since for DLL Injection it's considered undesirable.

It's a multi-step process to try avoid this, due to different implementations of the Steam API DLL. One of these steps is dropping a steam_appid.txt, which is required for some games and/or versions of Steam API.

Presuming the issue here is that the game's trying to reboot itself via Steam, one of the two suggestions above should work.

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Note: If the game boots just fine, please completely ignore this error. It's just a high priority warning.

[bnthomason]

I cant move the installation into steam without steam autopatching the game upon boot. I tried to boot the game with Steamless, but the game wouldn't boot. I also tried doing the first step before you suggested, as it dawned on me that this might work. But the steam_api.txt returns a value of zero.

Which makes me think it's the DRM specifically that's causing this.

[bnthomason]

Here's the steam_api.txt file.
steam_appid.txt

[Sewer56]

I cant move the installation into steam without steam autopatching the game upon boot.

If you start via the Reloaded launcher while it's in there, it should skip the auto patch hopefully. That might work for you.

[Sewer56]

I've never tried myself but reportedly you can also block updates by setting Steam's appmanifest_<appid>.acf to read only for Steam titles.

[bnthomason]

Ive tried everything I could think of. I even tried the app manifest method, but the game crashes when doing that.

[Sewer56]

Ah, pain.
I got no other ideas, short of just downloading the game, downloading an older depot, and trying myself.

[Sewer56]

Were you able to get this running? And is it still necessary?